Audrey Landers

Audrey Landers (born July 18, 1956) is an American actress and singer, best known for her role as Afton Cooper in the television drama series Dallas and her role as Val Clarke in the film version of A Chorus Line

Early years

Landers was born Audrey Hamburg in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Landers began her acting career at the age of 9, when she starred in her first community theater musical, and continued acting and singing in community theater shows in New York State. Music was always a passion, and Landers began writing poetry and songs at a young age. Landers was first noticed with a country song that she wrote and performed at the age of twelve, which led to a Nashville recording contract with Epic Records, a performance on The Merv Griffin Show, and a year-long role on the daytime drama, The Secret Storm. During her teen years, she acted on the daytime drama Somerset and studied music at the Juilliard School in New York, while majoring in psychology at Columbia University. Her feature film debut came in The Tennessee Stallion (1978) with her sister, Judy Landers.

Career

Landers moved to Los Angeles and on her 24th birthday, landed the role of Afton Cooper in Dallas, which she held for 84 episodes, from 1981 through the television movie Dallas: J.R. Returns in 1996. She took a leave of absence from Dallas to portray Val Clarke in the film version of A Chorus Line (1985). Her performance in the film of Dance: Ten; Looks: Three helped jumpstart a successful recording career in Europe. In 2013 she reprised her role in the second season of new Dallas.^[4][5]
Before joining Dallas, she guest-starred in a number of television series, including The Dukes of Hazzard, Fantasy Island, Love Boat, Battlestar Galactica, and television movies such as Jackie Collins's Lucky Chances, The Hitchhiker, and many others. From 1990–1992, she played the role of Charlotte Hesser, eldest daughter of upstate Pennsylvania mob boss Carlo Hesser on the ABC daytime series One Life to Live.

Landers at the 24th Annual Genesis Awards in 2010

With her young sons as inspiration, Landers created the children's television series, The Huggabug Club,^[3] for which, in addition to writing the scripts, she also wrote the 250+ original songs in the series. Her partner (and mother), Ruth Landers, produced the series and donated it to Public Television for its 5 year run. In 2006, she co-wrote, and co- directed the family adventure film, Circus Island, a Ruth Landers production. Landers' business partner (and mother) Ruth Landers have created a fashion line called Landers STAR Collection which is gaining global popularity through QVC UK,and in Italy, Canada, Germany, and the U.S.
In 2005–2006, Landers co-wrote and co-directed the family feature film Circus Island. Landers played Veronica, the girlfriend of Bruce Campbell's character Sam, on the USA Network series Burn Notice.

Personal life

Audrey is sister of actress Judy Landers, and has acted with her in several roles, including multiple episodes of The Love Boat as well as Circus Island and Ghost Writer, films produced by Ruth Landers. Audrey and Judy Landers were on the cover and in a non-nude pictorial of the January 1983 issue of Playboy. Audrey, Judy, and their mother, Ruth jointly created the award-winning musical children's television series The Huggabug Club for PBS from 1995–2000. Audrey co-wrote the 250 original songs in the series. She also co-wrote the scripts and co-edited the series.
Landers married businessman Donald Berkowitz in May 1988. They have 2 children, twins Adam and Daniel, born in 1993.